Chef Umesh Meena is keep­ing the lights burn­ing bright at Meena House, where Di­vali has be­come more than a cel­e­bra­tion—it’s a rit­u­al of food, fam­i­ly, and flavour.

Since open­ing in 2019, the Mar­aval restau­rant has turned the Fes­ti­val of Lights in­to an an­nu­al feast, blend­ing tra­di­tion with a mod­ern In­di­an din­ing ex­pe­ri­ence.

Every year, Meena House on Al­cazar Street, Port-of-Spain, trans­forms its kitchen in­to a stage for spice and sto­ry —serv­ing dish­es that ho­n­our Meena’s roots while de­light­ing reg­u­lars who come ex­pect­ing some­thing new.

On Oc­to­ber 22, the restau­rant glowed un­der flick­er­ing deyas and gold-dust­ed dé­cor as guests gath­ered over small plates of pa­neer tik­ka, saf­fron rice, and Meena’s sig­na­ture lamb cur­ry.

But it’s not just about what’s on the plate—it’s about who’s around the ta­ble.

“Di­vali has al­ways been about light, but it’s al­so about peo­ple com­ing to­geth­er,” Meena said. “We try to bring that en­er­gy in­to every dish.”

From hand­craft­ed sweets to tast­ing menus that show­case both North and South In­di­an flavours, Meena House’s Di­vali din­ners have be­come a fix­ture on the city’s culi­nary cal­en­dar—equal parts cel­e­bra­tion and com­fort, fine din­ing with­out the fuss.

As the fi­nal can­dles burned low, guests lin­gered over cups of masala chai and shared laugh­ter—proof that Meena House’s re­al mag­ic isn’t just in its food, but in how it brings strangers to­geth­er un­der the same warm glow each year.